Play & Win $$ For Your Candidate!

Cross Posted @ Daily Kos and MyDD

Yea, the title of the diary looks like it could be the subject line of a casino or gambling spam email that we all get on a regular basis, but this one is for real.  Look, I wasn’t around in late 2004/early 2003 and thus had no idea what to expect here come primary season this year.  To put it lightly, some of us, myself included, could use a little break from candidate diaries, candidate promoting, and candidate critiquing (I’m trying to be nice).

Earlier today I stumbled upon a website called Fantasy Congress.  In short, it is like any fantasy sports game – you draft a “team,” earn points, and try to place first in your league.  The lone difference is that instead of drafting baseball players or football players, you’re drafting politicians.  Likewise, your team primarily earns points based on your politicians’ legislative activity, vote attendance, and generated news.

That is the basic idea – for more details on trading, the points system, etc, be sure to check out the website.  I’ve set the “Daily Kos 2008” league cap at fifty players – the maximum it will allow me – so, the first fifty people to either comment below or send me an email – nypopulist(at)gmail(dot)com – indicating they are interested, I’ll send you the password and you’ll be all set to start would should be an interesting gaming experience.  You’ll also have to register with the site (don’t worry, it’s free) in order to play – please register with your handle here at Daily Kos we have an idea who is who.

To make things interesting, however, the winner of the league will get to choose a real-life (Democratic) candidate that the other forty-nine participants must donate $10 to.  Yea, it’s not much, but many people can’t afford much more, like myself, and hey, $500 ain’t too shabby.

Don’t worry, the draft is not “live” so you wont have to be online or available at a specific time to take part – each participant begins with 1000 “political capital” and proceeds as if the draft is a silent auction – you can put any or all of the 1000 on a legislator and the person with the highest bid get ’em; you can place your wagers at any point from now until January 2nd. The league starts on Friday, January 4 and ends on Friday, May 23 – good luck and may the best politico named NYPopulist win!